Sustainable fashion, reconsidered: what the Venice Film Festival’s red carpet reveals about re-wearing.

BY CHIARA DI LEO

In recent days, Venice hosted one of the world’s most important festivals: the Venice Film Festival: the Venice Film Festival. During this special event, many films are presented, and directors are rewarded, but that’s not the only thing that matters…Fashion and trends are under public scrutiny, and this event and its red carpet become the centre of attention for both the beauty-related world and the film industry.

This year, the art of “re-wearing” made headlines and on Instagram profiles; celebrities are wearing archive pieces or re-wearing other outfits from their collections.

The undeniable queen of this art is surely Cate Blanchett. Continuing her personal mission against disposable red-carpet couture, Blanchett once again this year prioritised longevity over novelty, wearing pieces from previous seasons and pairing them with repurposed, deadstock fine jewellery rather than newly minted pieces.

Generally, rather than debuting custom gowns straight out of new collections, several celebrities turned to fashion history, pulling archival silhouettes, notably 1990s and early-2000s couture from houses like Giorgio Armani Privé and Jean Paul Gaultier, proving that old gowns and craftsmanship can easily outshine rapid-cycle trends. This trend doesn’t only affect red-carpet looks, but also the Lido guests actively re-wore daytime essentials across multiple photocalls: tailored vintage blazers, classic leather footwear, and heritage accessories.

From these examples, we can fully understand the weight and importance of this relatively new trend.

The biggest outcome of this new tendency is surely its impact on overconsumption and the change in fashion choices in our daily life. This isn’t only a red-carpet phenomenon, it mirrors a much larger shift already underway among younger consumers; new generations are looking for vintage shops and for inspiration online on how to style one or multiple pieces in their wardrobe.

Gen Z doesn’t buy vintage clothes only because of its positive impact on the environment, but mainly because it loves wearing vintage clothing. Young adults and teens make this choice because an old garment can make you stand out and differentiate you from others, but also matching different pieces makes you unique and builds your confidence and self-identity.

Behind the rediscovery of garments from past times, there is the need to tell who you are, to differentiate yourself, and to build a personal identity through unique choices and objects. 

Confirming this change in why young consumers buy vintage is a study published both on the “SDA Bocconi Insight” website and in the Journal of Consumer Behaviour by the researcher Generoso Branca. This theory was based on an analytical analysis:

Surveying over 390 young Italians aged 18 to 25, the authors reveal that individual desires and emotional satisfaction, specifically fashion involvement and the search for uniqueness, are the real drivers behind vintage purchases, outweighing green or ideological concerns. The increase in prices when shopping for clothes also pressured teens and adults to look for different ways to obtain good quality pieces.

Gen Z outnumbers other generations in buying vintage clothes, preferring searching and picking pieces in a vintage market rather than online. Choosing and re-wearing become an art and a fashion statement.

At the end, some numbers to understand the scale of this phenomenon: the global secondhand fashion market reached $197 billion in 2023 and is projected to grow to $350 billion by 2028. Gen Z and millennial shoppers are the demographic most driving that growth, with much of their secondhand buying happening online

Ultimately, the Venice red carpet and the choices of Gen Z converge on the same truth: the art of re-wearing has evolved from an environmental duty into the ultimate form of self-expression. By rejecting the culture of disposable couture, celebrities and young consumers are both proving that garments gain value through history. In an era saturated with fast trends and fast fashion, re-wearing an outfit is no longer an act of repetition or a shame as it was in the early 2000s; it is a fashion statement one can make.